Nine months since its launch, the SADC Business Council Tourism Alliance is building a unified response to some major issues affecting tourism growth, with accessibility measures like the Univisa and air access at the top of its priority list.

Tourism is a key driver of economic growth and job creation across the SADC region with UNTWO data indicating that the sector directly contributed about 2.8% of total GDP in 2017. Indirect and induced impact increased this to about 8% of SADC GDP, while a total of 6.3 million jobs depended on the industry.

As part of its efforts to support economic development in the region, the SADC Business Council announced the development of the SADC Tourism Alliance in 2022 to drive private-sector involvement in regional tourism.

“The establishment of the Tourism Alliance is a really significant achievement, because you have 16 SADC countries, each with its own apex bodies that have signed an agreement to say that they’re going to work together, as the private sector, for the region. I think that’s a significant achievement that is finally gaining momentum, and the response has been positive,” says Natalia Rosa, Tourism Project Lead for the SADC Business Council.

The Tourism Alliance has identified a number of projects aimed at “unlocking the barriers to tourism growth in the region”.

“During COVID we lost a lot of people to other industries and there’s this massive skills gap. So we’re looking at understanding what that skills gap looks like and working with organisations to plug the gap in the tourism and hospitality sector.”

This includes the recently launched SADC Tourism Skills Gap Audit, which tourism businesses are encouraged to participate in.

Accessibility a key focus

A key focus for the Tourism Alliance is accessibility, to reduce “the friction that tourists potentially would feel crossing some of the region’s land borders”, by standardising regulations and introducing the long-awaited SADC Univisa.

The Univisa project is currently being piloted in five SADC countries but Rosa says the visa’s implementation is a complex process that will require governments to make policy changes first.

However, in the interim, the Alliance is investigating other ways to simplify processes for tourists such as a regularly updated app or website that would advise travellers of various border post requirements.

“We recognise that things like the Univisa will take time and we want to mitigate that friction that travellers are feeling, immediately by not knowing the requirement before they get there,” she said.

Air access is another focus area, looking at “what can be done to make the region more attractive for airlines to fly into”, Rosa said.

The Alliance has been working with the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC). A workshop will be held in South Africa in October to speak to countries from Southern Africa about the Single African Air Transport Market, which aims to strengthen aviation in Africa.

Beyond these specific projects, the SADC Tourism Alliance aims to encourage knowledge sharing between member states, the reduction of silos, and marketing of the entire region.

“What we need to do as the private sector is understand what can be controlled, learn from each other about what has worked before and what hasn’t worked before so we can circumvent mistakes along the way, and to implement those things that the private sector can control without waiting for governments to change policy or to build infrastructure,” said Rosa.